AFL finals system

The current AFL finals system began to be used in 2000 as its end-of-season championship playoff tournament. The highest-ranked eight teams in the regular season standings participate in a four-week tournament, with two teams eliminated in each of the first three weeks. The seventh team is eliminated (and the premiership awarded) in the grand final in the fourth week.

The system is designed to give the top four teams an easier road to the Grand Final than the second four teams. The top four needs to win only two finals to reach the Grand Final, while the second four needs to win three; and, two of the top four teams receive a bye in the second week of the playoff and then play at home in the third week, while the other two play at home in the second week.

The AFL introduced the system in 2000, to address several perceived issues with the McIntyre Final Eight System that had been in use from 1994–1999. The system has also been adopted by the Victorian Football League and the National Rugby League.^[1] Similar systems are used by Super League, and were previously used by the Australian Rugby League in the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

Summary

Finals format

Week one

• 1st Qualifying Final: 1st seed hosts 4th seed
• 2nd Qualifying Final: 2nd seed hosts 3rd seed
• 1st Elimination Final: 5th seed hosts 8th seed
• 2nd Elimination Final: 6th seed hosts 7th seed

The eight finalists are split into two groups for the opening week of the Finals Series. The top four teams have the best chance of winning the premiership and play the two Qualifying Finals. The winners get a bye through to Week Three of the tournament to play home Preliminary Finals, while the losers play home Semi-Finals in Week Two. The bottom four teams play the two Elimination Finals, where the winners advance to Week Two away games and the losers' seasons are over.

There is a game on Friday Night, Saturday Afternoon, Saturday Night and Sunday Afternoon.

Week two

• 1st Semi-final^[2]: Loser of 1st QF hosts winner of 1st EF
• 2nd Semi-final: Loser of 2nd QF hosts winner of 2nd EF

One semi final is played on a Friday Night and the other is played on a Saturday Night.

Week three

• 1st Preliminary Final^[2]: Winner of 1st QF hosts winner of 2nd SF
• 2nd Preliminary Final: Winner of 2nd QF hosts winner of 1st SF

One Preliminary final is played on a Friday Night and the other is played on either Saturday Afternoon or Night.

Week four

• Grand Final: Winner of 1st PF meets Winner of 2nd PF at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on a Saturday Afternoon.

Venues

The AFL's contract with the Melbourne Cricket Club requires that at least ten finals matches (excluding Grand Finals) are played at the MCG over a period of five years (2006–10). This means an average of two games must be played at the venue per year, plus each Grand Final. This is not normally expected to be a problem, but if non-Victorian clubs dominate the competition, it is possible that the AFL will be forced to schedule a non-Victorian team's home match at the MCG to reach the quota.

This existing contract with the MCG was put together after significant criticism of the previous contract, which required that at least one final be played at the MCG during every week of the finals. This meant that in the event that interstate clubs were to host either both semi-finals or both preliminary finals, one of those matches would be moved to the MCG. This happened in the 1999 Semi-Finals and the 2004 Preliminary Finals.

Finals in Victoria are usually played at the MCG, regardless of whether or not the home team normally plays its home games there. Only when Victoria is to host two finals on one day would the lowest-drawing final be moved to Docklands Stadium. The Geelong Football Club is not permitted to host a finals match at Kardinia Park.

The Grand Final is always played at the MCG, and has been in every year since 1902, except when the venue was not available.

Advantages for ladder positions

Under this finals system, the final eight teams are broken up into four groups of two. Each group of two earns one extra benefit over the teams beneath it. These benefits are home ground finals and the double-chance, whereby a first-week loss will not eliminate the team from the finals. Note that the "home" designations may be irrelvant for games played between teams from the same state – almost all finals games played between two Victorian teams will be held at the MCG, regardless of the "home" team's home ground.

First and second

First and Second receive the double-chance, and will play their first two finals matches at home: their qualifying final, and then either a semi-final if they lose their qualifying final or a preliminary final if they win their qualifying final. They need to win two finals to reach the Grand Final.

Third and fourth

Third and Fourth also receive the double-chance, but receive only one finals match at home: either a semi-final if they lose their qualifying final or a preliminary final if they win their qualifying final. They need to win two finals to reach the Grand Final.

Fifth and sixth

Fifth and Sixth receive one home final: their elimination final. They need to win three finals to reach the Grand Final.

Seventh and eighth

Seventh and Eighth receive no home finals. They need to win three finals to reach the Grand Final.

Drawn games

AFL

Under the current AFL finals system (and under all previous AFL finals systems since 1991), a game during the first three weeks of the finals cannot finish in a draw. If two teams are tied at the end of regulation time, extra time is played until a winner is decided. This replaced the former practice of replaying the final on the following weekend, and delaying all other finals by one week.

Extra time is not played if the grand final is drawn. In the case of a drawn Grand Final, a Grand Final Replay is played on the following weekend. The drawn Grand Final in 2010 sparked a debate about whether or not to continue the practice into the future, with many players saying they would have preferred extra time.^[3]

If the grand final replay is also drawn at full time, extra time will be played.^[4]

NRL

Under NRL rules as of 2010^[5], no finals game can end in a draw. For all finals games, including the Grand Final, in the event of a draw at full time, extra time of 10 minutes each way will be played. If the scores are still level at the expiration of extra time, the coin will be tossed with the winner of the toss electing the end of the ground to defend and play will continue until the next score (Golden point). That score will determine the winner.

See also

• ARL final series
• Early VFL Final systems
• AFL Grand Final
• McIntyre System
• Top five play-offs
• Top six play-offs
• Super League play-offs

Notes

References

External links

• Grand Finals at the MCG Contains a brief summary of the finals systems used in the VFL/AFL